The Twenty Year Triangle

Chapter Eleven

I begrudgingly allow her to drag me away to the stage, slurping down my drink on the way, I'm going to need all the liquid courage I can get. We get into the long line and Brandi winks at the guy working the equipment. He ushers us ahead, and Brandi grabs my hand and pulls us to the front of the line ignoring all the groaning behind us.

"Go ahead and pick out a song, then come on up. He gestures to the catalog on a podium nearby and then  flashes a big wide grin at Brandi. He's cute, blonde, kind of surfer-looking, probably in his late twenties. Brandi hates pretty boys, especially blonds. They remind her of someone she doesn't like to remember. But she's never afraid to use her charms to gain an advantage.

"Girls just want to have fun," I point out, but Brandi scoffs.

"So many girls are going to sing that. Let's Do, Like a Virgin, it'll be so sexy."

"I'd rather do something fun." I wrinkle my nose at trying to be all sultry on stage. I'd probably fall on my ass. "Chicken Fried, everyone loves that!"

"That's not sexy. Hunter said he wanted to watch you dance." She does a sexy hip shake to show me.

"Chicken Fried, or I'm not singing," I say stubbornly.

"Fine," she groans.

We let the surfer boy know our pick and then head up on stage, I meet Hunter's gaze right away, and he winks at me. I see his shoulders shake with laugher when the music starts playing.

We get right into it, singing along loudly and badly, but it's so fun. It's a catchy song, and most of the bar is singing along in no time, which is the reason I chose it.

We start dancing as we sing, the alcohol lowering my inhibitions and the crowd fueling the fun. Most of the bar begins standing and dancing but it blocks my view of Hunter. The show must go on though, so we bellow the chorus again with the entire bar.

Finally, I see Hunter making his way toward the stage, his eyes glued on me and a big grin on his face. I shimmy my hips at him and crook a finger to tell him to come up, he shakes his head no, but I step to the edge of the stage and grab his hand. He takes it and lets me pull him up, and the crowd cheers. He spins and pulls me close as I sing into the microphone.

Brandi holds her microphone out towards the crowd, who all sing louder. I thrust mine in Hunter's face, and he surprises me by taking it. With one arm, he pulls me in front of him and then tucks it around me, holding me against him, as we face the crowd. In the other he holds, the microphone and belts out the chorus in his deep and rich voice, he sounds good!

The crowd loves that he's up there singing, and all cheer, everyone is getting into it now. I think even the bartenders and servers are singing and dancing with us.

Hunter sways back and forth as he holds me, I turn around to face him, and our eyes lock; he spins me around and pulls me back up flush against his chest.  Our singing gets breathy and choppy, and we laugh as we dance.

I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me, and he wraps one arm around the small of my back. The laughter and singing dies on our lips as our eyes lock in an intense gaze. I cannot deny the look he's giving me now. It's full of desire and my entire body is on fire from it. His eyes drop down to my lips, and my hand finds its way to his cheek, resting there, while my other starts to entangle itself in the back of his hair. He starts leaning in and my heart nearly stops as his lips come close to mine.

"Kiss her!" Someone screams, and it's like they splashed cold water on us. We both break apart just as the music ends. The guys in charge are ushering us off the stage, and I beeline straight for the bar.